University Club tweaks its image

The University Club of Orlando, historically a stalwart collection of the city's powerbrokers, is softening its ultra-exclusive image and opening its doors to the public as the economy is forcing private clubs everywhere to come up with new ways to find revenue and membership.

In the past few months, the 83-year-old club began for the first time to allow non-members to book weddings and other meetings and events there, said General Manager Susan Greene.

"There were people who never knew what was behind the wooden doors," she said of the nondescript building on East Central Boulevard across from the Orlando Public Library.

Increasingly, empty dining rooms, racquetball courts and golf courses from here to Los Angeles are a testament of just how hard the recession has hit the elite classes that always seemed so insulated from previous downturns.

People have quietly stopped paying club dues in favor of more essential expenses, like the grocery bill and the mortgage. And businesses that may have once covered employee memberships have cut back as well.

About 17 percent of the University Club's members have dropped out since the beginning of the year — an improvement over the 21 percent that left last year, says Greene. But the club is benefiting from what she calls "the tree house effect."

"When you were a kid that's where you and your friends always gathered if somebody got in trouble," she said. "Because of the social component private clubs offer, even if it's a YMCA, it's that community spirit that people are looking for right now."

Sandy Lounsbury, general manager of Smyrna Yacht Club and regional director for the Florida chapter of the Club Manager's Association of America, says the University Club's experience is on par with others in the state.

Country clubs that maintain golf courses — which do not include the University Club or yacht club — have been more severely affected, he said, because they are often more expensive.

"We suffer the same as any other business entity with trying to balance our budget and keep employees happy," he said.

The 470-member Smyrna Yacht Club, where amenities include sailing and tennis, froze managers' pay last year but gave hourly workers a small raise, he said. Earlier this year Lounsbury said the club dramatically reduced its initiation fee for a special membership drive and netted 90 new members.

Greene said she has worked with members at the University Club to keep them on the roster.

"If somebody calls me and says they're thinking of resigning from the club because they lost their job and they can't afford it, I don't readily accept their resignation," she said.

Sometimes she tries to keep them on by deferring their dues in an attempt to help them network and get back to work.

The University Club has long been up against its image as a white, men's club that was unwelcoming to women and blacks until 1992, when it began to diversify its membership. Greene told me that helping the 400-member club move beyond its past was a big factor in her decision to come on staff three years ago.

"I was like OK, 'Do we walk the walk or do we just talk the talk?'" she said. "I think they've done an exceptional job in the last two years, in particular, of trying to walk the walk."

Today's 15-member board includes one woman as well as Hispanic and Jewish members. And Greene said she expects next year's board to be more diverse. With the real estate bust, plans are scrapped, for now, to build a pair of towers on its land.

Membership to the club is still by invitation.

John Crossman, president of commercial real estate and retail specialist Crossman & Co., is a member who has endorsed change at the club.

"Clubs are like malls," he said. "The ones that evolve and change properly can be very relevant to the future."